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For #MentalHealthAwarenessMonth, I wrote an op-ed for @Slate —calling for a new understanding of mental health.
The headline alone is ruffling some feathers.
I get it: health is complicated, and personal. And if our healthcare system is working for you, then carry on. This isn’t a call to take any options off the menu.
The problem is that health care isn’t working for most of us. The problem is the way our systems reinforce the idea that we—individuals—are the problem, and that pills & products are the de facto solution. The problem is the way health care "treats people and sends them back to the conditions that made them sick” (@michaelmarmot)
This is a call for more of health care to invest in the ideas that indigenous wisdom, positive psychology, and integrative medicine have been preaching for years:
To recognize how our environments can be both a source of stress and of healing. To be systemically reconnected to both basic resources— food, cash, safe housing, a stable job, protection from violence & discrimination —and psychological ones—outlets that bring us joy, meaning, and relationships.
To treat our social determinants of health with #socialprescriptions.
This is not pie-in-the sky thinking. This practice is now happening in ~30 countries! And it’s already proving to improve our health, reduce pressures on our healthcare, and help all of us— even the not “sick”—feel better.
A 🧵on what’s behind this feather-ruffling headline, what this op-ed is *NOT saying*, and how #socialprescribing can move us away from a symptom-focused model of sickness and deliver lasting, non-gimmicky wellness
slate.com/technology/202…
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